7th Annual Essentials for Young Lives Donation Drive Delivers

May 30, 2014

7th Annual Essentials for Young Lives Donation Drive Delivers

Orange County Campaign Collects over 1.2 Million Essential Items for Homeless Families

May 29, 2014 (Irvine, CA) – Today HomeAid Orange County, in partnership with the Children and Families Commission of Orange County, delivered over 1.2 million essential items to 17 facilities serving homeless families with children. The 7th Annual Essentials for Young Lives donation drive was the most successful drive in HomeAid Orange County history, surpassing the 2013 drive by almost 200,000 items!

“We are absolutely thrilled with the results of this year's Essentials campaign. It is the compassion and support of the community that continues to make this donation drive so successful," said Scott Larson, Executive Director of HomeAid Orange County. “Families represent the highest percentage of those living in shelters throughout Orange County, and being able to provide over 1.2 million essential items, the majority of which are diapers, to support them is incredible. We would especially like to thank our corporate sponsors, The Vons Foundation, UPS, and the Automobile Club of Southern California for their support of this campaign. Our partners understand how important this donation drive is for homeless mothers and their children in our community."

The items collected through the Essentials campaign will be distributed to transitional housing facilities that were built with the assistance of HomeAid Orange County. These diapers and other essential items that were donated enable recipient agencies to save the funds normally spent on baby supplies for use on programs that help their clients achieve self-sufficiency and lead productive, independent lives.

“The Commission's 13-year partnership with HomeAid Orange County has successfully increased the capacity at shelters ensuring that children have a safe and secure place to live," said Sandra Barry, chair of the Children and Families Commission of Orange County. “The Essentials campaign has alleviated the burden on homeless mothers to purchase diapers and allows them to focus on parenting."

The Orange County Essentials for Young Lives campaign was first launched in 2008 and has collected over 3.4 million essential baby items. The donations collected go directly to meet the critical needs of homeless children and families in Orange County.

“I am humbled to see that our community, once again, showed enormous generosity to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our community," said Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, Honorary Chair. “It has truly been a privilege for the men and women of the Orange County Sheriff's Department to participate in the Essentials for Young Lives donation drive. We see every day how important transitional housing can be to so many Orange County families. By joining with HomeAid and the Children and Families Commission on theEssentials drive and helping to support our homeless families, we know that we can remove some stress and anxiety that comes with a temporary living situation."

HomeAid Orange County is the founding chapter of a national non-profit organization with the vision and purpose to end homelessness. Through its mission of building new lives for homeless families and individuals through housing and community outreach, HomeAid, developshousing,advocatesand provides service in the community to the homeless.

Since 1989, HomeAid Orange County – founded by the Building Industry Association of Southern California's Orange County Chapter, has developed 50 shelters, adding more than 1,000 shelter beds throughout Orange County. HomeAid acts as the housing developer and liaison between services providers, community volunteers, builders and specialty contractors. Tragically thousands are still in need of shelter each and every day. To help solve this social crisis, new housing developments are being planned and constructed throughout Orange County.For more information, please visit www.homeaidoc.org.

Children and Families Commission of Orange County

The Children and Families Commission of Orange County oversees the allocation of funds from Proposition 10, which added a 50-cent tax on tobacco products sold in California. Funds help pay for education, health care and child development programs for children from birth to five and their families. The Commission's goal is to ensure all children are healthy and ready to learn when they enter school. For more information, please visit www.occhildrenandfamilies.com.